Transceiver architecture for license assisted access systems

ABSTRACT

Methods and devices useful in concurrently receiving and supporting Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) and Long Term Evolution Licensed Assisted Access (LTE-LAA) wireless data signals are provided. By way of example, an electronic device includes a network interface configured to allow the electronic device to communicate over one or more channels of a wireless network, and a transceiver configured to transmit data and to receive data over the one or more channels. The transceiver is configured to receive licensed cellular signals and unlicensed cellular signals over the one or more channels.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates generally to cellular and wirelessdevices, and more particularly, to cellular and wireless devicesutilized to support Long Term Evolution License Assisted Access(LTE-LAA) systems.

This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects ofart that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure,which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed tobe helpful in providing the reader with background information tofacilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the presentdisclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statementsare to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.

Transmitters and receivers, or when coupled together as part of a singleunit, transceivers, are commonly included in various electronic devices,and particularly, portable electronic devices such as, for example,phones (e.g., mobile and cellular phones, cordless phones, personalassistance devices), computers (e.g., laptops, tablet computers),internet connectivity routers (e.g., Wi-Fi routers or modems), radios,televisions, or any of various other stationary or handheld devices.Certain types of transceivers, known as wireless transceivers, may beused to generate and receive wireless signals to be transmitted and/orreceived by way of an antenna coupled to the transceiver. Specifically,the wireless transceiver is generally used to wirelessly communicatedata over a network channel or other medium (e.g., air) to and from oneor more external wireless devices.

Long Term Evolution (LTE) is a standard for wireless data communicationor the network through which the data is communicated, and may involvethe use of certain LTE transceivers within electronic devices. An LTEstandard network may provide the advantages of a high data rate andrelatively low latency and delay. An LTE standard network may alsosupport various carrier bandwidths that may range, for example, from 1.4megahertz (MHz) up to 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) in some cases. Most generally,the carrier bandwidth that is utilized by an LTE transceiver of anelectronic device may be based upon the frequency band and the amount offrequency spectrum available from an LTE network provider or within agiven LTE coverage region. With the exponentially increasing globaldemand for mobile data bandwidth, cellular carriers and operators maylook to make use of the industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM)frequency spectrum (e.g., unlicensed frequency spectrum) to offload thesometimes overly congested licensed LTE networks. As such, it may beuseful to provide more advanced and improved LTE transceivers anddevices to support the use of unlicensed frequency bands.

SUMMARY

A summary of certain embodiments disclosed herein is set forth below. Itshould be understood that these aspects are presented merely to providethe reader with a brief summary of these certain embodiments and thatthese aspects are not intended to limit the scope of this disclosure.Indeed, this disclosure may encompass a variety of aspects that may notbe set forth below.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure may be useful inconcurrently receiving and supporting Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) and LongTerm Evolution Licensed Assisted Access (LTE-LAA) wireless data signals.By way of example, an electronic device includes a network interfaceconfigured to allow the electronic device to communicate over one ormore channels of a wireless network, and a transceiver configured totransmit data and to receive data over the one or more channels. Thetransceiver is configured to receive licensed cellular signals andunlicensed cellular signals over the one or more channels.

Various refinements of the features noted above may exist in relation tovarious aspects of the present disclosure. Further features may also beincorporated in these various aspects as well. These refinements andadditional features may exist individually or in any combination. Forinstance, various features discussed below in relation to one or more ofthe illustrated embodiments may be incorporated into any of theabove-described aspects of the present disclosure alone or in anycombination. The brief summary presented above is intended only tofamiliarize the reader with certain aspects and contexts of embodimentsof the present disclosure without limitation to the claimed subjectmatter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various aspects of this disclosure may be better understood upon readingthe following detailed description and upon reference to the drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an electronic device including atransceiver, in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a notebook computer representing anembodiment of the electronic device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front view of a hand-held device representing anotherembodiment of the electronic device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a front view of another hand-held device representing anotherembodiment of the electronic device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a front view of a desktop computer representing anotherembodiment of the electronic device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a front view and side view of a wearable electronic devicerepresenting another embodiment of the electronic device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of the transceiver included within theelectronic device of FIG. 1, in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of radio frequency (RF) front endcircuitry the included within the transceiver of FIG. 6, in accordancewith an embodiment; and

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of a process usefulin concurrently receiving and supporting Wi-Fi and LTE-LAA wireless datasignals, in accordance with an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

One or more specific embodiments of the present disclosure will bedescribed below. These described embodiments are only examples of thepresently disclosed techniques. Additionally, in an effort to provide aconcise description of these embodiments, all features of an actualimplementation may not be described in the specification. It should beappreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation,as in any engineering or design project, numerousimplementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve thedevelopers' specific goals, such as compliance with system-related andbusiness-related constraints, which may vary from one implementation toanother. Moreover, it should be appreciated that such a developmenteffort might be complex and time consuming, but would nevertheless be aroutine undertaking of design, fabrication, and manufacture for those ofordinary skill having the benefit of this disclosure.

When introducing elements of various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the articles “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to mean thatthere are one or more of the elements. The terms “comprising,”“including,” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean thatthere may be additional elements other than the listed elements.Additionally, it should be understood that references to “oneembodiment” or “an embodiment” of the present disclosure are notintended to be interpreted as excluding the existence of additionalembodiments that also incorporate the recited features.

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to a transceiverof an electronic device useful in concurrently receiving and supportingWireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) and Long Term Evolution License AssistedAccess (LTE-LAA) wireless data signals to increase data throughput anddata processing speeds. In certain embodiments, the transceiver mayinclude radio frequency (RF) front end circuitry (e.g., Wi-Fi and/or LTERF circuitry) that may be used, for example, to support the Wi-Fi andLTE wireless communication standards. Indeed, in certain embodiments,the RF circuitry of the transceiver may, in addition to allowing theelectronic device to support Wi-Fi and LTE wireless applications, beutilized to process and support 5 gigahertz (GHz) (e.g., frequency bandof approximately 5.1 GHz to 5.8 GHz) LTE license assisted access(LTE-LAA) wireless communication applications.

For example, in certain embodiments, the RF circuitry may allow thetransceiver of the electronic device to utilize the Wi-Fi signalprocessing circuitry (e.g., 5 GHz signal processing circuitry) of theelectronic device to additionally process LTE-LAA wireless signals inorder to conserve area, power, and cost of the transceiver, and, byextension, the electronic device 10. Indeed, in some embodiments, the RFcircuitry may allow for concurrent reception of both Wi-Fi and LTE-LAAwireless signals (e.g., 5 GHz band cellular signals) by splittingincoming signals (e.g., received signals) during the time, or just afterthe incoming signals are amplified by an low noise amplifier (LNA) ofthe RF circuitry. For example, in certain embodiments, the RF circuitrymay arbitrate between LTE-LAA and Wi-Fi wireless signals to determinewhen to turn “ON” one or more LNAs of the RF circuitry to amplify eitherthe LTE-LAA signals or the Wi-Fi wireless signals.

Thus, in accordance with the present embodiments, the RF circuitry ofthe transceiver may allow the electronic device to be utilized to allowcellular carriers and operators to utilize the 5 GHz unlicensedfrequency spectrum to offload congested licensed LTE networks, and thusincrease data throughput and data processing speeds. Furthermore, the RFcircuitry may allow for concurrent reception of both Wi-Fi and LTE-LAAwireless signals while simultaneously allowing, for example, Wi-Fi andLTE operation of the electronic device to function asynchronously.

With the foregoing in mind, a general description of suitable electronicdevices that may employ a transceiver useful in concurrently receivingand supporting Wi-Fi and LTE-LAA wireless data signals will be providedbelow. Turning first to FIG. 1, an electronic device 10 according to anembodiment of the present disclosure may include, among other things,one or more processor(s) 12, memory 14, nonvolatile storage 16, adisplay 18, input structures 22, an input/output (I/O) interface 24,network interfaces 26, a transceiver 28, and a power source 29. Thevarious functional blocks shown in FIG. 1 may include hardware elements(including circuitry), software elements (including computer code storedon a computer-readable medium) or a combination of both hardware andsoftware elements. It should be noted that FIG. 1 is merely one exampleof a particular implementation and is intended to illustrate the typesof components that may be present in electronic device 10.

By way of example, the electronic device 10 may represent a blockdiagram of the notebook computer depicted in FIG. 2, the handheld devicedepicted in FIG. 3, the handheld device depicted in FIG. 4, the desktopcomputer depicted in FIG. 5, the wearable electronic device depicted inFIG. 6, or similar devices. It should be noted that the processor(s) 12and/or other data processing circuitry may be generally referred toherein as “data processing circuitry.” Such data processing circuitrymay be embodied wholly or in part as software, firmware, hardware, orany combination thereof. Furthermore, the data processing circuitry maybe a single contained processing module or may be incorporated wholly orpartially within any of the other elements within the electronic device10.

In the electronic device 10 of FIG. 1, the processor(s) 12 and/or otherdata processing circuitry may be operably coupled with the memory 14 andthe nonvolatile storage 16 to perform various algorithms. Such programsor instructions executed by the processor(s) 12 may be stored in anysuitable article of manufacture that includes one or more tangible,computer-readable media at least collectively storing the instructionsor routines, such as the memory 14 and the nonvolatile storage 16. Thememory 14 and the nonvolatile storage 16 may include any suitablearticles of manufacture for storing data and executable instructions,such as random-access memory, read-only memory, rewritable flash memory,hard drives, and optical discs. Also, programs (e.g., an operatingsystem) encoded on such a computer program product may also includeinstructions that may be executed by the processor(s) 12 to enable theelectronic device 10 to provide various functionalities.

In certain embodiments, the display 18 may be a liquid crystal display(LCD), which may allow users to view images generated on the electronicdevice 10. In some embodiments, the display 18 may include a touchscreen, which may allow users to interact with a user interface of theelectronic device 10. Furthermore, it should be appreciated that, insome embodiments, the display 18 may include one or more organic lightemitting diode (OLED) displays, or some combination of LCD panels andOLED panels.

The input structures 22 of the electronic device 10 may enable a user tointeract with the electronic device 10 (e.g., pressing a button toincrease or decrease a volume level). The I/O interface 24 may enableelectronic device 10 to interface with various other electronic devices,as may the network interfaces 26. The network interfaces 26 may include,for example, interfaces for a personal area network (PAN), such as aBluetooth network, for a local area network (LAN) or wireless local areanetwork (WLAN), such as an 802.11x Wi-Fi network, and/or for a wide areanetwork (WAN), such as a 3rd generation (3G) cellular network, 4^(th)generation (4G) cellular network, long term evolution (LTE) cellularnetwork, or long term evolution license assisted access (LTE-LAA)cellular network. The network interface 26 may also include interfacesfor, for example, broadband fixed wireless access networks (WiMAX),mobile broadband Wireless networks (mobile WiMAX), asynchronous digitalsubscriber lines (e.g., ADSL, VDSL), digital videobroadcasting-terrestrial (DVB-T) and its extension DVB Handheld (DVB-H),ultra Wideband (UWB), alternating current (AC) power lines, and soforth.

In certain embodiments, to allow the electronic device 10 to communicateover the aforementioned wireless networks (e.g., Wi-Fi, WiMAX, mobileWiMAX, 4 G, LTE, and so forth), the electronic device 10 may include atransceiver 28. The transceiver 28 may include any circuitry the may beuseful in both wirelessly receiving and wirelessly transmitting signals(e.g., data signals). Indeed, in some embodiments, as will be furtherappreciated, the transceiver 28 may include a transmitter and a receivercombined into a single unit, or, in other embodiments, the transceiver28 may include a transmitter separate from the receiver. For example,the transceiver 28 may transmit and receive OFDM signals (e.g., OFDMdata symbols) to support data communication in wireless applicationssuch as, for example, PAN networks (e.g., Bluetooth), WLAN networks(e.g., 802.11x Wi-Fi), WAN networks (e.g., 3G, 4G, and LTE and LTE-LAAcellular networks), WiMAX networks, mobile WiMAX networks, ADSL and VDSLnetworks, DVB-T and DVB-H networks, UWB networks, and so forth. Asfurther illustrated, the electronic device 10 may include a power source29. The power source 29 may include any suitable source of power, suchas a rechargeable lithium polymer (Li-poly) battery and/or analternating current (AC) power converter.

In certain embodiments, the electronic device 10 may take the form of acomputer, a portable electronic device, a wearable electronic device, orother type of electronic device. Such computers may include computersthat are generally portable (such as laptop, notebook, and tabletcomputers) as well as computers that are generally used in one place(such as conventional desktop computers, workstations and/or servers).In certain embodiments, the electronic device 10 in the form of acomputer may be a model of a MacBook®, MacBook® Pro, MacBook Air®,iMac®, Mac® mini, or Mac Pro® available from Apple Inc. By way ofexample, the electronic device 10, taking the form of a notebookcomputer 10A, is illustrated in FIG. 2 in accordance with one embodimentof the present disclosure. The depicted computer 10A may include ahousing or enclosure 36, a display 18, input structures 22, and ports ofan I/O interface 24. In one embodiment, the input structures 22 (such asa keyboard and/or touchpad) may be used to interact with the computer10A, such as to start, control, or operate a GUI or applications runningon computer 10A. For example, a keyboard and/or touchpad may allow auser to navigate a user interface or application interface displayed ondisplay 18.

FIG. 3 depicts a front view of a handheld device 10B, which representsone embodiment of the electronic device 10. The handheld device 10B mayrepresent, for example, a portable phone, a media player, a personaldata organizer, a handheld game platform, or any combination of suchdevices. By way of example, the handheld device 10B may be a model of aniPod® or iPhone® available from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. Thehandheld device 10B may include an enclosure 36 to protect interiorcomponents from physical damage and to shield them from electromagneticinterference. The enclosure 36 may surround the display 18. The I/Ointerfaces 24 may open through the enclosure 36 and may include, forexample, an I/O port for a hard wired connection for charging and/orcontent manipulation using a standard connector and protocol, such asthe Lightning connector provided by Apple Inc., a universal service bus(USB), or other similar connector and protocol.

User input structures 22, in combination with the display 18, may allowa user to control the handheld device 10B. For example, the inputstructures 22 may activate or deactivate the handheld device 10B,navigate user interface to a home screen, a user-configurableapplication screen, and/or activate a voice-recognition feature of thehandheld device 10B. Other input structures 22 may provide volumecontrol, or may toggle between vibrate and ring modes. The inputstructures 22 may also include a microphone may obtain a user's voicefor various voice-related features, and a speaker may enable audioplayback and/or certain phone capabilities. The input structures 22 mayalso include a headphone input may provide a connection to externalspeakers and/or headphones.

FIG. 4 depicts a front view of another handheld device 10C, whichrepresents another embodiment of the electronic device 10. The handhelddevice 10C may represent, for example, a tablet computer, or one ofvarious portable computing devices. By way of example, the handhelddevice 10C may be a tablet-sized embodiment of the electronic device 10,which may be, for example, a model of an iPad® available from Apple Inc.of Cupertino, Calif.

Turning to FIG. 5, a computer 10D may represent another embodiment ofthe electronic device 10 of FIG. 1. The computer 10D may be anycomputer, such as a desktop computer, a server, or a notebook computer,but may also be a standalone media player or video gaming machine. Byway of example, the computer 10D may be an iMac®, a MacBook®, or othersimilar device by Apple Inc. It should be noted that the computer 10Dmay also represent a personal computer (PC) by another manufacturer. Asimilar enclosure 36 may be provided to protect and enclose internalcomponents of the computer 10D such as the display 18. In certainembodiments, a user of the computer 10D may interact with the computer10D using various peripheral input devices, such as the keyboard 22A ormouse 22B (e.g., input structures 22), which may connect to the computer10D.

Similarly, FIG. 6 depicts a wearable electronic device 10E representinganother embodiment of the electronic device 10 of FIG. 1 that may beconfigured to operate using the techniques described herein. By way ofexample, the wearable electronic device 10E, which may include awristband 43, may be an Apple Watch® by Apple, Inc. However, in otherembodiments, the wearable electronic device 10E may include any wearableelectronic device such as, for example, a wearable exercise monitoringdevice (e.g., pedometer, accelerometer, heart rate monitor), or otherdevice by another manufacturer. The display 18 of the wearableelectronic device 10E may include a touch screen display 18 (e.g., LCD,OLED display, active-matrix organic light emitting diode (AMOLED)display, and so forth), as well as input structures 22, which may allowusers to interact with a user interface of the wearable electronicdevice 10E.

In certain embodiments, as previously noted above, each embodiment(e.g., notebook computer 10A, handheld device 10B, handheld device 10C,computer 10D, and wearable electronic device 10E) of the electronicdevice 10 may include a transceiver 28, which may include anin-phase/quadrature (I/Q) transceiver (e.g., WLAN I/Q transceiver).Indeed, as will be further appreciated, the I/Q transceiver may includea transmitter path and receiver path, and may be used to reduce orsubstantially eliminate IQMM and/or LO leakage components that mayotherwise become apparent in an RF transmission signal of thetransceiver.

With the foregoing in mind, FIG. 7 depicts a schematic diagram of thetransceiver 28. As illustrated, the transceiver 28 may include atransmitter 44 (e.g., transmitter path) and a receiver 46 (e.g.,receiver path) coupled as part of a single unit. As depicted, thetransmitter 44 may receive a signal 45 that may be initially modulatedvia a coordinate rotation digital computer (CORDIC) 48 that may, in someembodiments, be used to process individual Cartesian represented datasymbols (e.g., OFDM symbols) into polar amplitude and phase components.In some embodiments, the CORDIC 48 may include a digital signalprocessor (DSP) or other processor architecture that may be used toprocess the incoming signal 45. In some embodiments, the CORDIC 48 mayalso communicate with a transceiver processor 50 (e.g., on-boardprocessor) that may be used to process transmitted and/or received WLAN(e.g., Wi-Fi) and/or cellular (e.g., LTE) signals.

In certain embodiments, during operation, the transmitter 44 may receivea Cartesian coordinate represented signal 45, which may include, forexample, data symbols encoded according to orthogonal I/Q vectors. Thus,when an I/Q signal is converted into an electromagnetic wave (e.g.,radio frequency (RF) signal, microwave signal, millimeter wave signal),the conversion is generally linear as the I/Q may be frequencyband-limited. The I/Q signals 45 may be then respectively passed to highpass filters (HPFs) 51 and 52, which may be provided to pass the highfrequency components of the I/Q signals 45 and filter out the lowfrequency components. As further illustrated, the I/Q signals 45 may bethen respectively passed to mixers 54 and 56, which may be used to mix(e.g., multiply or upconvert) the in-phase (I) component and thequadrature (Q) component of the I/Q signals 45.

In certain embodiments, as further illustrated in FIG. 7, a transmitterphase lock loop (PLL-TX) or oscillator 58 may be provided to generate90° out of phase oscillation signals by which to mix the orthogonalin-phase (I) component and the quadrature (Q) component to generate acarrier frequency and/or radio frequency (RF) signal. The in-phase (I)component and the quadrature (Q) component signals may be thenrecombined via a summer 62, and then passed to a power amplifier (PA) 64to amplify the summed signal, and to generate an electromagnetic signal(e.g., RF signal, microwave signal, millimeter wave signal) to beprovided to antennas 66 and 68 (e.g., multiple input multiple output[MIMO] antennas) for transmission. In some embodiments, the antennas 66and 68 may be included on the same integrated chip as the transceiver 28architecture. However, in other embodiments, the antennas 66 and 68 maybe fabricated as part of a separate chip and/or circuitry that may becoupled to the other circuitry components (e.g., PA 64) of thetransceiver 28.

In certain embodiments, as previously noted, the transmitter 44 may becoupled together with the receiver 46. Thus, as illustrated, thetransceiver 28 may further include a transmitter/receiver (T/R) switch69 or other circulator device, which may be useful in routing signals tobe transmitted to the antennas 66 and 68 and routing signals receivedvia the antennas 66 and 68 to the receiver 46 (e.g., receiver path). Incertain embodiments, the transceiver processor 50 in conjunction with anRF front end circuitry 70 (e.g., Wi-Fi and/or LTE RF circuitry) of thetransceiver 28 may be used, for example, to support the Wi-Fi and LTEwireless communication standards. Indeed, in certain embodiments, aswill be further appreciated, the transceiver processor 50 and the RFfront end circuitry 70 may, in addition to allowing the electronicdevice 10 to support Wi-Fi and LTE wireless applications, be utilized toprocess and support 5 gigahertz (GHz) (e.g., frequency band ofapproximately 5.1 GHz to 5.8 GHz) LTE license assisted access (LTE-LAA)wireless communication applications.

For example, in certain embodiments, the RF front end circuitry 70 mayallow the transceiver 28 to utilize the dedicated Wi-Fi signalprocessing circuitry (e.g., 5 GHz signal processing circuitry) toadditionally process LTE-LAA wireless signals in order to conserve area,power, and cost of the transceiver 28, and, by extension, the electronicdevice 10. Indeed, as will be further appreciated, the RF front endcircuitry 70 may allow for concurrent reception of both Wi-Fi andLTE-LAA wireless signals (e.g., 5 GHz band cellular signals) bysplitting incoming signals (e.g., received signals) during the time, orjust after the incoming signals are amplified by a low noise amplifier(LNA) of the RF front end circuitry 70 and/or of the receiver 46. Forexample, in certain embodiments, the RF front end circuitry 70 mayarbitrate between LTE-LAA and Wi-Fi wireless signals to determine whento turn “ON” (e.g., activate) or “OFF” (e.g., deactivate) one or moreLNAs of the RF circuitry 70. In some embodiments, as will be furtherappreciated with respect to FIG. 8, the cellular RF circuitry (e.g., LTERF circuitry) may signal the RF front end circuitry 70 through one ormore relays of the RF front end circuitry 70 such that the LTE-LAAwireless signals are received and processed in a similar manner as theWi-Fi wireless signals.

As further depicted in FIG. 7, during operation, the receiver 46 mayreceive RF signals (e.g., LTE and/or Wi-Fi signals) detected by theantennas 66 and 68. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 7, receivedsignals may be received by the receiver 46. The received signals may bethen passed to a mixer 71 (e.g., downconverter) to mix (e.g., multiply)the received signals with an IF signal (e.g., 10-20 megahertz (MHz)signal) provided by a receiver phase lock loop (PLL-RX) or oscillator72.

In certain embodiments, as further illustrated in FIG. 7, the IF signalmay be then passed to a low-pass filter 73, and then mixer 76 that maybe used to mix (e.g., downconvert a second time) with a lower IF signalgenerated by an oscillator 78 (e.g., numerically controlled oscillator).The oscillator 78 may include any oscillator device that may be usefulin generating an analog or discrete-time and/or frequency domain (e.g.,digital domain) representation of a carrier frequency signal. The IFsignal may be then passed to the transceiver processor 50 to beprocessed and analyzed.

Turning now to FIG. 8, a detailed illustration of the RF front endcircuitry 70 is depicted. For example, as illustrated, in certainembodiments, the antennas 66 and 68 (e.g., MIMO antennas) may include adedicated cellular (e.g., 5 GHz Wi-Fi) licensed antenna 66 and adedicated unlicensed (e.g., 5 GHz LTE-LAA) antenna 68. In certainembodiments, as incoming RF data signals (e.g., Wi-Fi and/or LTE-LAAsignals) are detected by the respective antennas 66 and 68, the datasignals may be passed through respective filters 82 and 84. For example,data signals detected by the dedicated unlicensed (e.g., LTE-LAA)antenna 68 may be passed, for example, through the filter 82 (e.g., 5GHz bandpass filter) and through a switch 88 (e.g., T_(x)/R_(x) switch)of a module 86.

Data signals detected by the dedicated cellular (e.g., 5 GHz Wi-Fi)licensed antenna 66 may be passed, for example, through the filters 84(e.g., 5 GHz high-pass filter and 2.4 GHz low-pass filter) and through aswitch 90 (e.g., T_(x)/R_(x) switch) of the module 86. The switches 88and 90 may be used to switch between, for example, transmitting andreceiving signals (e.g., which may be controlled by a low noiseamplifiers (LNA) arbiter device 98 as discussed in further detailbelow). The filter 82 may include a bandpass filter (e.g., 2.4 GHzbandpass filter) provided to allow 2.4 GHz signals (e.g., andrestricting other frequencies) to pass from the dedicated unlicensed(e.g., LTE-LAA) antenna 68 to the module 86. Similarly, the filters 84may include a low-pass filter (e.g., 2.4 GHz low-pass filter) and ahigh-pass filter (e.g., 5 GHz high-pass filter) provided to allowrespective 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz signals to pass from the dedicated cellular(e.g., 5 GHz Wi-Fi) licensed antenna 66 to the module 86.

In certain embodiments, as further illustrated, the module 86 mayinclude low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 94A, 94B, 96A, and 96B and an LNAarbiter device 98. It should be appreciated that the module 86 mayinclude any circuitry that may be generally used to process, forexample, Wi-Fi data signals as part of the transceiver 28, and, moregenerally, within the electronic device 10. However, in accordance withthe present techniques, the module 86 may include the LNAs 94A, 94B,96A, and 96B, which may be switched between “ON” (e.g., activated) and“OFF” (e.g., deactivated) states based on, for example, a signalreceived from the LNA arbiter device 98. For example, in certainembodiments, the LNA arbiter device 98 may be used to, for example,arbitrate or distinguish between 5 GHz (e.g., approximately 5.0-5.8 GHz)and 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi incoming data signals and 5 GHz (e.g., approximately5.0-5.8 GHz) and 2.4 GHz cellular (e.g., LTE-LAA) incoming data signalsbased on, for example, a received signal strength indication (RSSI) ofthe incoming signals. The LNA arbiter device 98 may also, in someembodiments, control the switches 88 and 90 to switch between, forexample, transmitting and receiving signals.

For example, in certain embodiments, the LNA arbiter device 98 maysample the incoming 2.4 GHz and/or 5 GHz (e.g., approximately 5.1 GHz to5.8 GHz band signals) data signals, and then the LNA arbiter device 98may determine whether the incoming data signals are, for example, eitherWi-Fi or LTE-LAA data signals. Based on whether the incoming datasignals are Wi-Fi or LTE-LAA data signals, the LNA arbiter device 98 maytransmit a signal to turn “ON,” for example, the LNAs 94A, 94B, 96A, and96B. The incoming data signal may be then split (e.g., divided) viasignal splitters 100 and 102 and transmitted to, for example, the LNAs94A, 94B, 96A, and 96B, and lastly to the Wi-Fi specific RF circuitryand/or the cellular specific RF circuitry of the transceiver 28. Itshould further be appreciated that the RF front end circuitry 70 mayallow the transceiver 28 to selectively utilized the LTE-LAA unlicensedfrequency bands (e.g., 5.1 GHz to 5.8 GHz) when it may be useful to doso in order to increase data throughput and data processing speeds(e.g., when the licensed LTE frequency bands are particularlycongested). In other instances, the transceiver 28, and, by extension,the electronic device 10 may process Wi-Fi data signals and LTE cellularsignals using the LTE licensed frequency bands.

In this way, the RF front end circuitry 70 may allow the transceiver 28to utilize the Wi-Fi signal processing circuitry (e.g., 5 GHz signalprocessing circuitry) to additionally process LTE-LAA wireless signalsin order to conserve area, power, and cost of the transceiver 28, and,by extension, the electronic device 10. The RF front end circuitry 70 ofthe transceiver 28 may also allow the electronic device 10 to beutilized to allow cellular carriers and operators to utilize the 5 GHzunlicensed frequency spectrum to offload congested licensed frequencybands, and thus increase data throughput and data processing speeds.Furthermore, the RF front end circuitry 70 may allow for concurrentreception of both Wi-Fi and LTE-LAA wireless signals (e.g., 5 GHzwireless signals) while simultaneously allowing, for example, theasynchronous functioning of the Wi-Fi and LTE operation of theelectronic device 10. In other embodiments, although not illustrated,the transceiver 28 may include a dedicated RF circuitry (e.g., withoutthe LNA arbiter device 98 and splitters 100 and 102) specificallyprovided to receive, process, and route LTE-LAA wireless signals.

Turning now to FIG. 9, a flow diagram is presented, illustrating anembodiment of a process 104 useful in concurrently receiving andsupporting Wi-Fi and LTE-LAA wireless data signals using, for example,the transceiver 28 and/or the transceiver processor 50 depicted in FIGS.1 and 7. The process 104 may include code or instructions stored in anon-transitory machine-readable medium (e.g., the memory 14) andexecuted, for example, by the transceiver 28 and/or the transceiverprocessor 50. The process 104 may begin with the transceiver 28receiving (block 106) one or more radio frequency (RF) signals. Forexample, as previously discussed above, the transceiver 28 may receiveRF data signals via the dedicated cellular (e.g., 2.4-5.8 GHz Wi-Fi)licensed antenna 66 and a dedicated unlicensed (e.g., 5 GHz LTE-LAA)antenna 68.

The process 104 may continue with the transceiver 28 determining (block108) whether the one or more RF signals corresponds to, for example, aWi-Fi data signal or a cellular data signal (e.g., LTE signal). Forexample, the LNA arbiter device 98 of the transceiver 28 may sample theincoming 2.4 GHz and/or 5 GHz (e.g., approximately 5.0-5.8 GHz) datasignals and determine whether the incoming data signals are, forexample, either Wi-Fi or LTE-LAA data signals. The process 104 may thenconclude with the transceiver 28 utilizing (block 110) the cellularunlicensed frequency bands (e.g., LTE-LAA) when the incoming RF datasignals correspond to cellular LTE data signals. For example, based onwhether the incoming data are Wi-Fi or LTE-LAA data signals, the LNAarbiter device 98 may transmit a signal to selectively turn “ON,” forexample, the LNAs 94A, 94B, 96A, and 96B. The incoming data signal maybe then split (e.g., divided) via signal splitters 100 and 102 andtransmitted to, for example, LNAs 94A, 94B, 96A, and 96B, and lastly tothe Wi-Fi specific RF circuitry and/or the cellular specific RFcircuitry of the transceiver 28.

In this way, the RF front end circuitry 70 may allow the transceiver 28to utilize the Wi-Fi signal processing circuitry (e.g., 5 GHz frequencysignal processing circuitry) to additionally process LTE-LAA wirelesssignals in order to conserve area, power, and cost of the transceiver28, and, by extension, the electronic device 10. The RF front endcircuitry 70 of the transceiver 28 may also allow the electronic device10 to be utilized to allow cellular carriers and operators to utilizethe 5 GHz unlicensed frequency band to offload congested licensed LTEbands, and thus increase data throughput and data processing speeds.

The specific embodiments described above have been shown by way ofexample, and it should be understood that these embodiments may besusceptible to various modifications and alternative forms. It should befurther understood that the claims are not intended to be limited to theparticular forms disclosed, but rather to cover all modifications,equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope ofthis disclosure.

The techniques presented and claimed herein are referenced and appliedto material objects and concrete examples of a practical nature thatdemonstrably improve the present technical field and, as such, are notabstract, intangible or purely theoretical. Further, if any claimsappended to the end of this specification contain one or more elementsdesignated as “means for [perform]ing [a function] . . . ” or “step for[perform]ing [a function] . . . ”, it is intended that such elements areto be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f). However, for any claimscontaining elements designated in any other manner, it is intended thatsuch elements are not to be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f).

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic device, comprising: a networkinterface configured to allow the electronic device to communicate overone or more channels of a wireless network; and a transceiver configuredto transmit data and to receive data over the one or more channels,wherein the transceiver is configured to receive licensed cellularsignals and unlicensed cellular signals over the one or more channels.2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the wireless networkcomprises a Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless network.
 3. Theelectronic device of claim 1, wherein the wireless network comprises aWireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) wireless network.
 4. The electronic device ofclaim 1, wherein the transceiver is configured to receive and route LongTerm Evolution (LTE) signals and Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) signalsconcurrently.
 5. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the LTEsignals comprise a frequency of approximately 5 gigahertz (GHz) and theWi-Fi signals comprise a frequency of approximately 5 GHz.
 6. Theelectronic device of claim 1, wherein the transceiver is configured totransmit the data and to receive the data via one or more multiple inputmultiple output (MIMO) antennas.
 7. The electronic device of claim 1,wherein the transceiver is configured to receive Long Term EvolutionLicense Assisted Access (LTE-LAA) signals as the unlicensed cellularsignals.
 8. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the transceiver isconfigured to receive the LTE-LAA signals over the one or more channelsto increase data throughput and to increase a data processing speed ofthe electronic device.
 9. A method, comprising: receiving, via anelectronic device, an electromagnetic signal; determining, via theelectronic device, whether the electromagnetic signal corresponds towireless local area network (WLAN) signal or an unlicensed cellularsignal; and causing the electronic device to operate selectivelyutilizing an unlicensed frequency band when the electromagnetic signalcomprises the unlicensed cellular signal.
 10. The method of claim 9,wherein determining whether the electromagnetic signal corresponds tothe WLAN signal or the unlicensed cellular signal comprises determiningwhether the electromagnetic signal corresponds to a Wireless Fidelity(Wi-Fi) signal or a Long Term Evolution (LTE) signal.
 11. The method ofclaim 9, wherein causing the electronic device to operate selectivelyutilizing the unlicensed frequency band comprises causing the electronicdevice to operate selectively utilizing a Long Term Evolution LicenseAssisted Access (LTE-LAA) frequency band.
 12. The method of claim 9,wherein causing the electronic device to operate selectively utilizingthe unlicensed frequency band comprises arbitrating between WirelessFidelity (Wi-Fi) signals and Long Term Evolution License Assisted Access(LTE-LAA) signals.
 13. The method of claim 9, wherein causing theelectronic device to operate selectively utilizing the unlicensedfrequency band comprises receiving and routing Long Term Evolution (LTE)signals and Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) signals concurrently.
 14. Awireless electronic device, comprising: a transceiver, comprising radiofrequency (RF) front end circuitry configured to receive Long TermEvolution License Assisted Access (LTE-LAA) signals and WirelessFidelity (Wi-Fi) signals, wherein the RF front end circuitry comprises alow noise amplifier (LNA) arbiter device configured to arbitrate betweenthe Wi-Fi signals and the LTE-LAA signals and to activate one of a firstLNA and a second LNA of the RF front end circuitry, and wherein the LNAarbiter device is configured to activate one of the first LNA and thesecond LNA to support concurrent reception of the Wi-Fi signals and theLTE-LAA signals.
 15. The wireless electronic device of claim 14, whereinthe LTE-LAA signals comprise a frequency in an approximately 5 gigahertz(GHz) frequency band.
 16. The wireless electronic device of claim 14,wherein the Wi-Fi signals comprise a frequency in a range fromapproximately 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) to approximately 5 GHz.
 17. Thewireless electronic device of claim 14, wherein the LNA arbiter deviceis configured to arbitrate between the Wi-Fi signals and the LTE signalsbased at least in part a received signal strength indication (RSSI) ofthe Wi-Fi signals and the LTE-LAA signals.
 18. The wireless electronicdevice of claim 14, wherein the LNA arbiter device is configured tosupport concurrent reception of the Wi-Fi signals and the LTE-LAAsignals to increase data throughout and to increase a data processingspeed of the wireless electronic device.
 19. A method, comprising:receiving, via an electronic device, a radio frequency (RF) data signal,wherein the RF data signal comprises a Long Term Evolution (LTE) signalor a Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) signal; and causing the electronic deviceto operate utilizing a Long Term Evolution License Assisted Access(LTE-LAA) frequency band based at least in part on whether the RF datasignal comprises the LTE signal or the Wi-Fi signal.
 20. The method ofclaim 19, comprising determining whether the RF data signal comprisesthe LTE signal or the Wi-Fi signal via RF front end circuitry of atransceiver of the electronic device.